My Toddler Had Cosmetic Surgery

Posted On: 2011-10-19

At the emergency room Dylan's stats were taken to make sure he was doing okay despite his injury, and he was. We waited in the room for almost two hours before the doctor came and in that time nothing had been done to his lacerated ear, nothing. When the doctor finally became available she took a quick look and said she'll need to call an Ear, Nose, and Throat cosmetic surgeon and see if he can be seen that day. After another twenty minutes we were given an address 35 minutes from this facility and told to go there immediately. I kind of laughed at that, of course I would go immediately.

Finally a nurse came in with a wet gauze and coban to wrap around Dylan's head to keep the ear from being touched and infected. With toddlers you always have to make things a game so I pulled out my mirror and showed him how cool his "hat" was. He liked it but then immediately took it off so the nurse put it on again tighter.

I quickly nursed my daughter and gave her to my husband to take her home while I took my son to the cosmetic surgeon. Thankfully he fell asleep as soon as I started driving which helped my feel a little more at ease about the situation for the first time.

We were welcomed upon arrival and moved to a room where there was a flat cushioned table that I could only assume is where he would be laying while getting the stitches. I was not prepared for the procedure that was about to happen though.

As it turns out, the doctor squeezed us in and there was not time to put Dylan out for the surgery as he would need to stay overnight so the doctor decided on just a local anesthetic. I was mortified when he asked me to lean over and lock my son's knees while holding both his hands down. In this position I was right in his face trying to comfort his screams as the doctor cleansed the wound to prep it for the anesthetic. It wasn't until I saw him pull the piece of lacerated ear up that I knew the extent of this injury, it was worse than I thought. A nurse was also there to try to hold his head steady. I broke down and cried with my son, he was in so much pain and I couldn't do anything about it.

After the doctor had injected the anesthetic he told me that Dylan wouldn't feel what he was doing however, Dylan continued to scream the whole time. The doctor made an untimely joke about how Dylan will be a leader someday because he knows how to voice his opinions. Stitch after stitch I held onto Dylan trying to comfort him any way I could and thought there's no way this is really happening like this.

Finally the doctor was done with all 10 stitches and covered his ear with polysporin ointment to keep it protected and moist. Both Dylan and I were wet with sweat from his battle to get free. On the way out all the ladies in the office fussed over how cute Dylan was and he ended up leaving with four stickers, a coloring book, a stuffed whale, and a cup of animal crackers!